Sri Lanka Police have asked property owners to check the background of prospective tenants before letting residential or commercial premises, saying drugs, weapons and other items linked to criminal activity are frequently being recovered from rented property.
Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Sajeewa Medawatte made the appeal to reporters, saying some owners lease out premises without screening who is taking them.
The warning to owners
The sharper point in the briefing was directed at landlords themselves. Police warned that if criminal activity takes place on a property, the owner may also face legal action, depending on the circumstances and the applicable legal provisions.
Medawatte tied the appeal to the government’s continuing anti-narcotics campaign, which he described as aimed at protecting the public and reducing the availability of illegal drugs.
Police also asked the public to report suspicious individuals or activity in their areas — particularly where unfamiliar people are seen frequenting a town or village. Medawatte said public cooperation has been important in detecting and preventing criminal activity.
Not the same advisory as May
This is the second such appeal this year, and the two are distinct.
| May 2026 | September 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Issued by | Police Media Division | SDIG Sajeewa Medawatte, to reporters |
| Concern | Foreign-run online financial fraud operations | Drugs and weapons recovered from premises |
| Framing | Immigration violations, Section 76 of the Police Ordinance | The national anti-narcotics campaign |
The May advisory centred on organised cyber-scam operations run from rented houses, hotels and lodges, and on the reporting duties that Section 76 of the Police Ordinance places on heads of households. The current appeal makes no reference to either, and reaches landlords through a different concern.
A note on the name
Hiru News gives the officer’s name as Sanjeewa Medawatte; Newswire gives Sajeewa Medawatte. LankaNewz has used Newswire’s spelling. The two reports otherwise describe the same briefing in the same terms.
Newswire is an aggregator and does not count toward this article’s credibility rating, but it carried the briefing independently and is cited here for that reason.
